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For information on the comic book version of the Phoenix Saga, see Dark Phoenix Saga.

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The Phoenix Saga is one of the most popular miniseries in X-Men: The Animated Series, as well as one of the most popular and important storylines in the X-Men comic books.

This page deals with The Phoenix Saga as it was told in five half-hour episodes of the X-Men animated series. This 1994 television version of the story was very significantly different than the original 1975 - 1976 comic book version of the story. Most obviously, the characters Rogue, Jubilee featured prominently in the televised version; they did not debut in the comics until 1981, 1987 and 1990 respectively.

Part 1: Sacrifice

In this episode, Professor Xavier sees strange visions of a woman from outer space. The woman is calling out for help. Xavier calls an emergency meeting of the X-Men and tells them that they have to get into outer space and find out what this woman wants. Using Jean Grey's telepathy to fool the space shuttle's captain into believing the X-Men are the actual crew members, the X-Men board a space shuttle headed towards a space station.

Upon docking, the X-Men learn that the space station has been taken over by the alien, Erik the Red, who attempts to use the space station's weaponry to shoot down the spaceship of an alien criminal, Lilandra . The X-Men battle Erik the Red, damaging the space station and allowing Lilandra's ship to pass unharmed. The X-Men and the shuttle's captain escape from Erik the Red and board their rocket, which has also been severely damaged.

The shuttle's systems begin to fail and the captain can't change course. The shuttle heads right towards Lilandra's ship's radiation exhaust trail. With the autopilot damaged, Jean Grey decides to steer the ship, using her mental abilities to shield herself from the radiation, while the rest of the X-Men and the captain take cover in the ship's radiation shield area.

The episode ends with Jean Grey screaming in pain as she struggles to keep the telekinetic shield around herself and pilot the ship at the same time.

Part 2: The Dark Shroud

This episode begins where the previous one leaves off. Jean Grey is struggling to maintain control over the rocket, while also using her mental powers to shield herself from the harmful radiation through which the spaceship is flying. After passing through the radiation, Jean crash-lands the rocket in the middle of the Hudson River .

As the X-Men and the ship's crew escape from the destroyed ship, Jean Grey flies up out of the water and claims to be something called "Phoenix". Jean is brought to a hospital to rest, and the X-Men later question her about Phoenix. She has no idea what is going on.

Cyclops stays in the hospital with Jean while the other X-Men venture out into New York City. Gambit and Jubilee head to see a Broadway show. Beast goes to his Manhattan research lab in order to investigate the mind-control chips that were placed into the space station's crew by Erik the Red. Storm decides to meditate on top of a bridge and Wolverine heads off on his own.

Professor Xavier is seen on the roof of the hospital and starts getting into his personal hoverchair, when he again sees visions of the strange alien woman who has been haunting him for the past few days. The mental contact between the two puts Xavier into a coma-like state, and his mutant telepathic abilities begin to project his astral form outside of his body.

His astral form, which it later becomes apparent is really the "evil side" of his psyche, confronts the X-Men one by one. The astral form meets up with Wolverine on a subway and plays mind games with him. However, Wolverine's mutant ability to distinguish people by their unique smells tips him off that the astral ghost is not really Professor Xavier and that something must be wrong. Wolverine finds Gambit and Jubilee on Broadway, just as Xavier's evil astral form is attacking them, and lets them know that it is not really the professor. The three of them try to battle the ghost, but with little luck. Jubilee contacts Storm for assistance. To the police officers, to whom Xavier is not revealing his psychic presence, it appears as though the X-Men are just causing damage for no reason.

As the cops are about to arrest the X-Men for vandalism and destruction of property, Storm comes to their aid just in the nick of time. She creates a dense fog, allowing the four of them to escape.

Xavier's astral form next attacks Cyclops, in Jean Grey's hospital room. Jean tells Cyclops that it is just an astral projection of Xavier's dark side and that he has to realize that whatever "hurt" Xavier's projection might be causing him is all in his head. Cyclops cannot fight the projection though, so Jean Grey uses the power of the Phoenix to force Xavier's mental projection away.

The X-Men rush to assist Xavier's physical body. Upon waking him up, Xavier apologizes and explains that his haunting vision of the alien overwhelmed his powerful psyche, causing his evil subconscious to lash out at the X-Men. He told them that he could not be trusted in his precarious mental state, and travelled to Muir Island, Scotland where his good friend and scientist, Dr. Moira MacTaggert could properly and safely tend to him.

Moira, a former love interest of Xavier's, introduces Professor Xavier to her new fiancée, Sean Cassidy (Banshee). Meanwhile, Erik the Red is seen utilizing advanced alien technology to spy on Xavier and overhears him mention the alien visions. Erik the Red says something about Xavier being "the key" and needing to deal with him. While sitting alone, Xavier gets another violent vision of the strange alien woman.

He mentally reaches out to her this time, rather than fighting to resist her presence. This causes her to show up in front of him. She reveals herself as Lilandra and explains that she is from an alien galaxy called the Shi'ar Empire. Her brother, D'Ken is the emperor of the Shi'ar people, but he is corrupt. His biggest wish is to use the incredible powers of something called the M'Kraan Crystal in order to rule over the universe. Knowing this, Lilandra stole the M'Kraan Crystal and fled her planet for Earth . According to Shi'ar beliefs, two people are bound together from birth and destined to find each other in their times of need; for Lilandra, this person has always been Charles Xavier. As if to confirm this belief, the two each feel as though they've known the other for years--despite having just met--and immediately begin to become close.

The episode ends with Xavier's greedy step-brother, Juggernaut breaking into the room and grabbing Lilandra.

Part 3: Cry Of The Banshee

The juggernaut goes to charles's house to get his ho. He was fighting charles when the ho starts shooting at him. She shoots off his helmet, which he got in 4th grade. In reataliation, he pimp slaps her ass. At this point he informs her that he is gonna rape her and asks her if she is ready repeatedly. Then, charles takes control of the juggernaut's mind and puts him onto an acid trip. At this point, the bearded muthafucka comes and shoots charles in the back with his pimp cane, breaking the hold over the juggernaut's mind. Then he shoots the girl, making her unconscious. The bearded man asks for $50 muthafucka, telling him he helped the juggernaut out one time before. The juggernaut tells him that he custom made his suit,bitch. The juggernaut then throws charles out the window while informing him again that he is indeed the juggernaut bitch.The bearded man is on the roof of his castle because he loves looking over the city on that muthafucka when the crimson red nigga shows up. He tells him that his spaceship is a dodge. When the bearded man calls him mustard looking muthafucka, the crimson red man replies ," Aint that a bitch. Im ketchup, muthafucka!" and zaps his dumb ass. He then is about to shoot him, telling him he is made out of laffy taffy, when the juggernaut shows up. He picks him up, but hte crimson man commands his men to shoot him. He also states that he will kill him, rape him, and eat his fucking costume. The juggernaut gets mad and asks if the men is a fucking ass and informs the men of who he is, bitch. Then he hits them with thier own pimp. He then informs them that he is the baddest muthafucka in the world. The bearded man is counting his money, telling the crimson man that selling hoes is easy as hell. The crimson man retorts that he sells candy, is a part time stripper, and that he does hair as well. At this time the juggernuat storms in proclaiming, " OH ITS THE JUGGERNAUT BITCH AND I GOT A BITCH WITH ME! WE GON HAVE A RAPE PARTY!" When the bearded man asks him why he has to yell everytime he goes into any room, the juggernaut says his suit is on too tight and that its the only way he can breathe. The crmson man then shoots the ho. He then tells her that he can either take that shit or he can give it to her willingly. She says she wants it willingly because she is a nasty bitch. The crimson man then tells her that his suit is made out of latex and that he doesnt need a condom. He tells her to be amazed by the sheer size and strength of it. After they get it on, he shoots her. After doing this, charles is shown saying, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." The juggernaut informs both the crimson man and the bearded man that he is the welterweight champion of the world,bitch. He also questions the ho's hairstyle. At this time, the bearded man informs them that there are people on the roof and tells the juggernaut to go cap thier asses. The juggernaut says that hes been waiting for that shit all his mutherfucking life and that he doesnt need a gun. He walks towards the door when charles's crew blows up the door. They tell him that they shouldve never cam onto thier turf. The juggernaut gets angry becasue those muthafuckas ripped his suit. The bearded man hits the wolf muthafucka with a blast, and is about to do it again when the jamaicaon mon takes it for the wolf. He says "my chest, my bloody chesssst, my outfit" He also says he cannot get hurt as long as he is wearing the jamaicaon colors. The bearded man informs him that he wil lget hurt by his pimp cane one way or another muthafucka. The juggernaut likes one of the bitches raincoat and he runs after her. When he grabs her, one of her ho friends slams him into the wall. the raincoat bitch makes him face the wrath of bret heart muthafucka. They try to escape only to get hit by the juggernaut. The juggernaut grabs the ho, and brings her up to the roof. The juggernaut escapes to the top, but he is stopped by the raincoat bitches friend. Then, the juggernaut sees captain planet, but he doesnt give a fuck because hes the juggernaut bitch. The crimson muthfucka is like captain planet come to bring you toothpaste, but juggernaut is like "colgate for the juggernaut aint thsi a bitch?" the Captain planet comes down and tells them to look at his biceps. The crimson red muthafucka asks him who the fuck he is, but captian planet tells him to blow him. When the crimson red muthafucka tells him he is sorry, captian planet tells him not to talk like that to him with his mohawk. the ho then tells captian planet that she doesnt want to go out with him, but he tells her to shut up and that he will fuck her that night. Captain planet then asks where is the juggernaut so he can crush him. The juggernaut is furious, asking if that muthafucka is talking about him. He tells him he is going to beat his ass, only to have his punch stopped by captian planet. Captain planet then lifts the juggernaut, at which time the juggernaut reveals that he is scared of heights. Captain planet then throws the juggernaut into the distance with the juggernaut yelling, "BUT IM THE JUGGERNAUT BITCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." The raincoat bitch then says "GODDAM! I WANNA GET FUCKED!" the end.